but last night here it was, a part of the human story. the american story, the story of someone who just couldn't deal with what came. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans, and welcome to "the ed show" from new york. one day after president obama corners republicans during the state of the union, republicans have filibustered the president's choice for defense secretary for the first time in american history. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> the families of oak creek and tucson and blacksburg and the countless other communities with gun violence, they deserve a simple vote. >> the president lays it all on the line for gun safety. but will the congress deliver? howard fineman and neera tanden on obama's historic call to action. the republican savior misses the mark, and it had nothing to do with his dry mouth. >> that's why we need a balanced budget amendment.

>> get america on track to a balanced budget. >> simplifying our tax code will also help the middle class. >> by lowering tax rates while lowering deductions and closing loopholes. >> i'll show you why it's the words that count. the president called for an increase to the minimum wage. we'll debunk the line that it's a job killer. plus, the big congressional panel weighs in on the president's big progressive speech. senate republicans are impersonating joe mccarthy. and the dramatic end to the california manhunt is caught on tape. [ gunshots ] we'll take you back to big bear mountain where major questions need to be answered. good to have you with us tonight, folks. thanks for watching. no president has ever done what president obama did last night. here is a big reason why president obama laid it all on the line. two out of three americans. the number is 67% of americans. this is the percentage of people

in this country who approved of president obama's state of the union speech last night, according to public policy polling. the president delivered a speech filled with major policy initiatives. it was a bold vision for the country can, a good road map. and guess what? americans support these policies. the public is on the side of the president when it comes to climate change. he spoke about taking executive action to reduce carbon pollution. and voters, well, they agreed with him. the president announced a major infrastructure program. i love this one. voters believe that more spending on roads and bridges and infrastructure is going to lead to more jobs in this country. he supported a path to citizenship. and guess what? americans are on his side with that one. where are the republicans tonight? they're also overwhelming by supportive of the president's proposal to raise the minimum wage. president obama took these proposals on the road today to asheville, north carolina. and he will continue to rally the american people. but the boldest, and i mean the boldest stand this president

took last night was his call to address the societal problem of gun violence in america. no president has ever sold gun safety harder in the state of the union address. >> i know this is not the first time this country has debated how to reduce gun violence. but this time is different. overwhelming majorities of americans, americans who believe in the second amendment have come together around commonsense reform. >> well, the first proposal president obama mentioned was a universal background check law. this is clearly a priority, and most likely has the best chance of passing the senate and the house. the president also advocated laws to prevent resell of firearms to criminals. assault weapons also on the list, but that's going to be a heavy lift in the congress. so were high-capacity ammunition magazines. the goal is to vote on all of these measures to find out

exactly what will work and will pass. the president put pressure on congress to hold votes without delay. >> each of these proposals deserves a vote in congress. if you want to vote no, that's your choice. but these proposals deserve a vote. >> these proposals deserve a vote because of the human faces of violence in this country, like 15-year-old hadiya pendleton of chicago. >> just three weeks ago she was here in washington with her classmates, performing for her country in my inauguration. and a week later, she was shot and killed in a chicago park after school. just a mile away from my house. >> a mile away from the president's house in chicago. this is clearly personal to this president. and it's personal for all the families of gun violence who have been touched by it in this

country. on their behalf, president obama made a passionate plea. >> hadiya's parents nate and cleo are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun violence. they deserve a vote. they deserve a vote. they deserve a vote. gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of newtown deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserve a vote. the families of oak creek and tucson and blacksburg and the countless other communities

ripped open by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote. >> i have been to a number of these state of the union addresses, all the way back to bush. i think i've been to 11 out of the last 12. there is momentum there is momentum in this chamber, no question about it. and it was very clear last night. in fact, i would compare the emotion of all of the people in that chamber last night to when president bush was talking about how we're going to go get the terrorists, and about how we are america and we're going to overcome all of this. i mean, there was real passion inside that chamber last night. and the american people voted for change in 2008 and 2012. this whole issue has been cast upon this president. he has got to do the heavy lifting, and he is willing to do it. the majority of americans support the changes this president put in his speech last night. this is, as we have been telling you for weeks, is a center-left country, and it was a center-left speech last night. and if the republicans don't

want to get on board, they'll pay a political price in 2014. and believe me, the days go by fast. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, will gun violence victims and families get the votes they deserve? text "a" for yes. text b for no to 67622. you can always go to our blog at ed.msnbc.com and leave a comment. we encourage you to do that. we'll bring you the results later on in the show. i'm joined tonight by neera tanden, who is the president for the american center for progress and howard fineman, editorial director for "the huffington post" media group. i do want to say of all of the state of the unions that i have been to, i have never seen such a coordinated effort by a party or a president to present in front of the american people this is something we need to do. howard, you first. last night, the democrats, i don't know how many people they brought to the state of the union that were affected by gun violence. but clearly this was a coordinated effort.

they think the politics and the time is right for change. will it have an impact? will it have an effect? >> i think it already has, ed, and yes, it will. the democrats worked hard to do this in coordination with the white house. debbie wasserman schultz, the democratic congresswoman from florida, had a 17-year-old woman with her who was herself a victim of gun violence. i think there are about 30 other democratic members who brought people with them, family members, victims, and so forth, people who were wearing those green ribbons. and when the president got up to speak in the chamber, i was there in the chamber too, ed, and it was very emotional. the thing took on the atmosphere of a revival meeting there at the end, the kind of call and response thing that even got speaker boehner up out of his seat and got most of the reluctant -- not all, but most of the reluctant republicans up out of their seats. now, you can't equate on a one-to-one basis the theatrics on the state of the union night. but the fact that it got the speaker up out of his chair is significant.

>> is the sentiment on this issue too much for the republicans to ignore at this point? >> i think that you laid it out. the challenge for them is that this is really just the beginning. you know, the president is going to talk about these issues, i believe on friday. these are issues in which there are too many victims, and there are too many families, and there are too many children. so you can continually be reminded there is a new framework that people are seeing. to every day now, we hear stories of gun violence, and they're covered in a new way. they're on cable in a new way. people are seeing them in a new way. so that really creates a challenge for republicans. they can actually address this issue, take that vote, or if they work to block a vote, they're really going to pay consequences, because especially for women voters, it makes no sense that you would block even a vet on these issues. so i think this is going to create a difficult political issue.

everyone always says politics is so one-sided. it hurts democrats, it hurts democrats and the swing states. i really think that the president was speaking to the country, to women voters, to moms and saying this is common sense. and i think moms at home and women were shaking their head yes. >> howard, interesting strategy that the president wants all of these issues voted on individually, which of course will get the president talking. okay, you don't want the assault weapons ban, but do you want background checks? do you want to close the loophole of the gun shows? this is republican leader mitch mcconnell reacting to the speech today. here it is. >> last night's speech was pedestrian, liberal boilerplate that any democratic lawmaker could have given at any time in recent memory. >> howard, your response to that. >> well, i spoke to mitch mcconnell yesterday. i think that's what he was expecting and he got -- he heard what he was expecting to hear in his own mind. but i think even in kentucky,

believe it or not, where mitch mcconnell is going to be up for reelection next year, he is going to have to be careful on a couple of these issues. i mean, kentucky is a gun state if there ever was one. but cities like louisville and lexington, some kinds of further measures of gun safety may be more popular than he realizes. and as neera pointed out, in terms of women voters, in terms of the demography of the vote, it is important. and i think by the way it's going to be key for the president to force some democrats to go along. in certain respect, the president was speaking to harry reid, the democratic leader as much as he was speaking to mitch mcconnell. >> absolutely he was. and the nra has been kind of close to harry reid. they have not been adversarial to one another for years. and there is the rural culture of firearms in this country. but from what i'm told last night, they're going to try to get as much as they can on this. and the president is all in on this. the democrats are all in on it. it now comes down to the votes.

house speaker john boehner was pressed about giving people the votes they deserve on gun safety today. here it is. >> how do we address violence in our society, how do we take meaningful steps to reduce that violence? and as i made clear for weeks, when the senate -- if the senate acts, we'll be happy to take a look at what they do. >> neera, is this a failure of leadership for boehner to just kick it over to the senate, we'll see what they do first? what do you make of that? >> i mean, i don't think americans define leadership by saying things like when the senate acts, we'll see what they can do. i think that really -- that kind of lackadaisical attitude towards something that people see as a real threat to their communities, their neighborhoods, their own safety i think is one of the reasons why people think the house republicans are so out of touch. >> sure. >> and they're in single digits. i think the issue is i think democrats will get votes on this in the senate.

and then it's going to be on speaker boehner to show that they're going to give the votes on this in the house. >> it was kind of like the president was going to embarrass them into the votes. i mean, the majority of people in this country want this addressed, is going to embarrass them, right, into taking the votes on the floor. speaking of congress, the republicans continued their legacy of obstruction today. the senate will need 60 votes to end a filibuster on defense secretary nominee chuck hagel. republican senator james inhofe of oklahoma is leading the charge to block hagel. harry reid scheduled the vote to end the filibuster for friday. >> this is the first time in the history of our country that a presidential nominee for secretary of defense has been filibustered. what a shame. >> howard, is hagel, is the nomination in trouble? >> a little bit. i think in the end it will get through. but i think this a way, chuck hagel has kind of become the pinata for republicans, because he is within reach.

president obama is not. president obama is on the right side politically on most of these political issues. the republicans can't touch him, and they know it. the only person they can whack right now is chuck hagel. i mean, chuck hagel is a perfectly acceptable defense secretary. and privately, most republicans would say the same thing. but for a whole host of reasons, the only person that the republican right can go after right now is hagel, and they're going to do it. >> yeah. >> and i think it's possible that they won't get the 60 votes, that the democrats won't get the 60 votes to shut off debate to invoke cloture on friday. and it will go another week. it's possible. >> this will be the 113th just like the 112th. starting out with a bang. neera tanden, howard fineman, great to have you with us tonight.

share your thoughts on twitter at ed show and on facebook. we always want to know what you think. marco rubio had major problems with things coming into his mouth. tonight how rubio's biggest problem really was the stuff that was coming out of his mouth. we'll be right back. first kid you ready? [ female announcer ] second kid by their second kid, every mom is an expert and more likely to choose luvs. after thousands of diaper changes, they know what works. luvs lock away wetness better than huggies for a fraction of the cost live, learn, & get luvs.

and "the ed show" congressional panel is back tonight. they're going to be tackling the issues president obama put on the table. and why republicans, why republicans are going on vacation days before america reaches the financial break. the california cop killer story takes a fiery turn. we have the latest details on the story of chris dorner's possible last stand. you can listen to my radio show on sirius xm radio channel 127 monday through friday, noon to 3:00 p.m. on liberal talk stations around the country. share with us on facebook and on twitter use #edshow. we're coming right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." last night senator marco rubio joined the cast for prime time. he is not ready for prime time players. he does not have the jersey on right. and the water thing is a bad deal too. senator rubio gave the gop response to the president's state of the union address. he failed on both style and substance. first, the moment everybody is talking about. senator rubio towards the end of his speech, reaching for a water bottle positioned too far away. no one can blame him to going to get the water. heck, everybody gets thirsty, right? you get cotton mouth, what are you going to do? you take care of. >> but there is no need to look like you're afraid of getting

caught on camera. it prompted this ed show tweet. shorter rubio speech. take mitt romney's policies and just add water. senator marco rubio got some sympathy from a website showing what a bad case of cotton mouth he had developed. >> oh, what the mind will think of. senator rubio joked about it this morning. >> i needed a water. what am i going to do, you know? it happens. god has a funny way of reminding us we're human. >> well, just have it right there. you don't have to put it on the other side of the room. it's water. it's right here. i guess you could say it's all water under the bridge right now. i didn't write that, but substance matters. and senator rubio was offering

really nothing new. >> we're going to finally get america on track to a balanced budget. >> that's why we need a balanced budget amendment. >> free enterprise can create enduring prosperity. >> our free enterprise economy is the source of our middle class prosperity. >> this is not the time to double down on trickle-down government policies that have failed us. >> and the idea that more taxes and more government spending is the best way to help hard-working middle class taxpayers, that's an old idea that has failed every time it's been tried. >> to encourage growth by lowering tax rates while lowering deductions and closing loopholes. >> simplifying our tax code will also help the middle class because it will make it easier for small businesses to hire and grow. >> i just will not drink to any of that. i'm joined tonight by joy reid, managing editor of thegrio.com. you know, it's just amazing how a guy can go from the savior on the cover of "time" magazine to being made fun of everywhere. but let's talk about what was coming out of his mouth. >> yeah. >> romneyesque.

>> and you know what? first of all, the drinking thing, hilarious. and unfortunately for him, it's all he is going to be known for a minute. >> well, somebody put the water there. is he ashamed of water? just go ahead and drink it. it's not a big deal. >> and it was the maintaining eye contact with the camera thing that made it so funny. but the worst thing you be k be in politics is a joke. i'm starting to think being offered the response to the state of the union is a biggest trick by who your biggest political opponent is in your party. bobby jindal was probably laughing hysterically at that moment thinking ha ha, somebody else got it. the speech illustrated the primary problem for the republican party. they don't actually intend to change any of their policies. they just keep trying to find different people to say the same script. this was exact as you just showed, this was the romney script. they did to it paul ryan. he wasn't doing paul ryan during the election. he was doing the exact same script. they make any new face fit into the same mold.

>> marco rubio is fresh to a lot of americans out there who were paying attention last night. he is in a different demographic than some of these old white senators that are there, okay, that have been there for a long time. >> right. >> it's a different culture. it's a different demographic, different view of life in many respects. yet he comes out and says the same stuff that they were just saying on the campaign trail. it's almost as if the republicans didn't preview the speech. >> well, you know what? they didn't have to. here is the thing. this is the complication of being a minority conservative. right now, first of all, there is a huge boom in it there is a big career advancement in it. if you want to be ben carson, marco rubio, any brown or black person who is willing to say conservative stuff, this is your moment. you can make a lot of money, get a lot of attention, get a lot of love from the right, because they really do need brown and black faces to start saying this script. but the problem is in order to fit in as a minority conservative, you really almost

have to be even further to the right than typical conservatives. you have to mouth verbatim all of the party's beliefs, because if you stray one bit, you are held in suspicion. so rubio is caught in that matrix. >> here is more from the senator from florida. here it is. >> i believe in federal financial aid. i couldn't have gone to college without it. one of these programs is medicare. it's especially important to me. it provided my father the care he needed, and it pays for the care my mother receives right now. >> so he praises these government programs that the republicans are trying to gut. figure it out. >> right. and he supported the ryan plan. this is a guy who in the past has supported privatizing social security partially. he is a guy who is opposed to the dream act, even though now he is for some sort of permanent residency status, a subversion of the dream act. this guy on positions is just like mitt romney, or really more like paul ryan. and on medicare, he was for the ryan plan, which is not just cutting medicare, it's gutting it. it's changing it. >> now, let's look at that picture right there. let's show that video again. it's a good shot right there. it kind of looks like the oval office. you got the flag there. you got the drapes. but it would have been even

better if he had been sitting down at a desk. it's like he was going in, winging this thing with no consultant whatsoever. and it would it seems to me that the republicans would probably do well to invest in cosmetics of doing this properly next year. they're going to get a shot at it again next year. and rubio is probably thinking gosh, i'd like to have another shot at this. >> or just invest in cosmetics period to wipe the sweat off. look, i'm a long-time rubio skeptic. i'm sorry, but i've never drank the kool aid that he is the greatest thing ever. people overestimate his fabulousness because he has the image components the right needs. but substantively, that was marco rubio last night. >> joy reid, great to have you on "the ed show." thank you so much. president obama, well, would have made ted kennedy very proud last night. next, i'll tell you why $9 an hour minimum wage is just the beginning. "the ed show" congressional committee tells us just how president obama's fix it first idea could be the republicans'

worst nightmare. we're right back.

why this volume of amendments on just the issue to try and raise the minimum wage. what is it about it that drives you republicans crazy? what is it? >> six years after ted kennedy asked the question, not a whole lot has changed.

republicans are still opposing efforts to raise the minimum wage. and last night president obama called on congress to take some action. >> tonight let's declare that in the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. >> also part of that kennedy speech was "how many more billions of dollars do you want to give to the corporations? what else do you want from these workingmen and women?" well, boehner, ryan and rubio, they have publicly rejected president obama's proposal, and they're now spouting out the same old lies we heard back six years ago, that it's going to cost jobs, that it's going to hurt small business. it's just another example of republicans denying the facts. so let's get this whole thing straight, folks. several academic studies have found an increase in minimum wage had no significant effect on employment levels in this country. the bottom line, it doesn't kill jobs, and it won't kill small businesses. two-thirds of low-wage workers

actually work for big corporations in this country, the majority of which actually are more profitable now than they were before the recession. a wage increase could actually help our economy as a whole. it's estimated that the minimum wage increase in 2009 resulted in $5.5 billion in consumer spending all across the country. that's good. right now over 47 million americans live in low income working families. a full-time employee working for minimum wage earns just over $15,000 a year before taxes. a number of states where the minimum wage worker can afford a two-bedroom apartment working a 40-hour week. you know what it is? zero. it's a moral outrage. it's a moral issue that this country can't do better for workers. and i think that everything in your power as a citizen should be coming full fold on these representatives and senators in congress.

they need to hear from you. if you work full-time and you still live in poverty, is that good? you see, by raising the minimum wage, we directly address the growing levels of income inequality in this country by giving people a chance to lift themselves out of poverty and join the middle class, which is the mission. a rising tide lifts all boats. by opposing this, republicans are just showing us once again just who exactly who they stand for. tonight i propose a fix it first program to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs. the president lays out a bold plan to get people become to work. representatives john larson, gerry connolly, and terri sewell are here for the big congressional panel. i want to put on the record that this senator feels like that senator cruz has gone over the line.

>> ted cruz gets a smackdown in the senate. we'll tell you what that's all about. the deadly california shoot-out ends up in flames. [ gunshots ] but there are still big questions that need to be answered about the california manhunt. [ female announcer ] going to sleep may be easy, but when you wake up in the middle of the night it can be frustrating. it's hard to turn off and go back to sleep. intermezzo is the first and only prescription sleep aid approved for use as needed in the middle of the night when you can't get back to sleep. it's an effective sleep medicine you don't take before bedtime. take it in bed only when you need it and have at least four hours left for sleep. do not take intermezzo if you have had an allergic reaction to drugs containing zolpidem, such as ambien. allergic reactions such as shortness of breath or swelling of your tongue or throat may occur and may be fatal. intermezzo should not be taken

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ask any ceo where they would rather locate and hire, a country with deteriorating roads and bridges or one with high speed rail and internet, high-tech schools, self-healing power grids. president obama last night making the pitch for the middle class and encouraging economic growth. the president said that an economy that creates middle class jobs must be this country's north star. then he went on and proposed a plan that would help repair the country's aging infrastructure, put people to work, right back to work.

>> tonight i propose a fix it first program to put people to work as soon as possible on our most urgent repairs like the nearly 70,000 structurally deficient bridges across the country. >> the president says he will encourage public/private partnerships to help fund these improvements so taxpayers won't carry the entire burden. the question now is will he get support that he needs to get it done? >> and i know you want these job-creating projects in your district. i've seen all the ribbon cuttings. >> well, we've got the congressional panel with us tonight. congresswoman terri sewell of alabama. congressman john larson of connecticut, and congressman gerry connolly of virginia. great to have you with us. i enjoyed visiting with all of you last night. i come from and i spend a lot of time in the state of minnesota where a bridge fell down and killed 13 people. so when the president talked about this last night, i knew exactly what he was talking about from covering that. the other thing is i bet i could go to alabama, go to virginia,

go to connecticut, and i could probably find infrastructure that needs to be upgraded, bridges that are probably compromised at this point right now. and i chose this story tonight for this panel because isn't this something that republicans and democrats can agree on? john larson from ways and means, how could this be a roadblock? >> it shouldn't be a roadblock at all. and everybody agrees in their district that there is a drastic need for us to invest in infrastructure. we know that from the president's address when he was citing bridges. bill shuster, who is taking the committee on transportation has talked about the importance and need for this. and i think there is a great opportunity for congress to come together. in my own district, it's not only roads and bridges, but dike systems that we have identified since katrina that need to be addressed. and as you know, ed, and so eloquently say, this is what can put america back to work immediately.

and addresses these very important and critical issues of infrastructure right away. >> you know, we've got the firearms issues. we've got immigration reform. i mean, these are big issues. but the big elephant in the room right now is the economy. terri, what could be done in alabama? >> well, i think that the president was absolutely right. you know, when you do infrastructure improvements, you create jobs today that actually create the roads and bridges for future economic growth and development. i know in alabama we could use rural broadband. it's a real issue. being able to lay fiberoptics as well as to improve our roads and bridges there are lots and lots of projects that i could name that could benefit from the president's vision last night. >> gerry, can speaker boehner get his party on board with this? >> i hope so. i hope so for the benefit of the country. it was really a wise one, because it's about pooling public capital and private

capital together to improve the infrastructure of america. >> gerry connolly, congressman, can boehner get anybody on board? why not take a vote on this? why not advocate for jobs? why not advocate for infrastructure? i mean, doesn't this put the republicans on the wrong side of the issue again? >> yes. and i was sharked last night that during that section of the speech, the republicans sat on their hands. and yet as the president pointed out, they're the first in line for the ribbon cutting when the infrastructure actually gets completed or built. every district in this country is crying out for infrastructure investment. the key to staying competitive -- education, r&d technology and infrastructure. and if we don't do it, i guarantee the chinese will. >> turning to the big deadline coming up, the sequester, the president tackled the question head-on early last night. here it is. >> the greatest nation on earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to the next. we can't do it.

let's agree right here right now to keep the people's government open and pay our bills on time. and always uphold the full faith and credit of the united states of america. >> but congressman larson, we've got to hold the phone. congress is going on vacation for a few days. we've got this deadline that nobody is paying attention to. your thoughts on that. >> this is incredible. and this hostage politics simply has to end. and it's moving from crisis to crisis. and then not showing up for work. it's simply just exacerbates how the public already feels about congress. our leader nancy pelosi has proposed that we stay here and get the job done. and that's what we should be doing, putting america back to work, embracing the president's programs that he has laid out. if you have a better idea, put it forward. but everybody, democrat, republican, and independent agrees, the north star continues to be as the president said to put the country back to work,

invest in its infrastructure, create the kind of jobs. they're going to grow this economy and deal with the deficit. we know that the deficit can be reduced directly by putting the country back to work. something, ed, that you have underscored for the last several years. >> well, it is about jobs. you got 67% of the american people agreeing about what the president is talking about on all of these issues last night. congressman connolly, getting more revenue is really where it's at right now, unless the democrats are going to give up the big three. how is this going to unfold? >> well, i think the republicans are hard over on avoiding any kind of additional revenue enhancement. i think that's very irresponsible. and almost condemns us to sequestration kicking in fully. and as the president said, every one of these so-called crises is congress's own making. this wasn't something opposed in the country. it wasn't something that occurred externally. it's something we created. and as john larson just said, if you start the calendar from july through the end of the lame

duck, we were out in recess for 15 of those 19 weeks. >> congresswoman terri sewell of alabama, i want your reaction to the minimum wage going to $9 an hour. is that something you can easily support? and how will it affect workers in alabama? >> absolutely. i was really surprised to hear that the president actually said the $9. i was so thrilled. you know, at the end of the day, people want a living wage. and i know that in my district in alabama, there has been persistent poverty, and the opportunity to give a hand up, not a handout is what this government should be about. and it's investing in our greatest resource, which is our people. our people are our greatest resource. so i was really pleased to hear the president talk in terms of workforce development and training. i know that we're rolling out a project in my own district, project ready that is about using our office as a platform to teach job readiness in our district. >> are the democrats -- i'll ask all three of you.

are you walking away from the comment we're now a center-left country. congressman larson, your thoughts. >> absolutely not. this is the way that we need to govern. progressively leaning forward, but understanding as roosevelt did you have to zig to the right and left, but you governor from the center, and you do that by investing in the american people, doing as the president said last night, making it in america, investing in our manufacturing base, this idea, the policies that he laid out with manufacturing hubs. this is what we need to do, ed. >> all right. i'm up on time right now. but i do want to get this in. congresswoman terri sewell, all of you, thanks for being here tonight. on a personal note, congresswoman sewell, you brought a very special guest to the state of the union last night. i had the honor of meeting this lady. and i think our audience would be interested. her name is patrice price. what a history she has. she served as a nurse to the tuskegee airmen. mrs. price received a congressional gold medal in 2007 for her courage in service.

she was also general george patton's nurse, and really, that's what this country is all about. i'm glad she was there. congresswoman terri sewell, thanks for joining us tonight along with john larson and gerry connolly. texas senator ted cruz does his best joe mccarthy imitation during the armed services committee hearing. that's next.

of course, we love hearing from our viewers on facebook and on twitter. many of you are helping us write a caption for the image of senator marco rubio reaching for a water bottle during last night's gop response to the state of the union. tony la cola suggests "sorry, folks, all this lying has got me parched." diane brown writes "must wash down these lies, water, water." and randy martin offers this caption "i just killed my career."

tonight there are more questions about the cop killer story in california. we have video that might be the last few minutes of chris dorner's revenge killing rampage. we're coming back with that. stay with us. thunder crashes ] [ female announcer ] some people like to pretend a flood could never happen to them. and that their homeowners insurance protects them. [ thunder crashes ] it doesn't. stop pretending. only flood insurance covers floods. ♪ visit floodsmart.gov/pretend to learn your risk.

and we are back. you want something new? just leave to it the republicans. for the first time in history, senate republicans have filibustered a defense secretary nominee. freshman senator ted cruz of texas is leading the charge against chuck hagel and slandered the war hero on tuesday. cruz said hagel may have ties to iran? and could have taken money from countries like north korea. >> this committee knows absolutely nothing about the personal compensation chuck hagel received in 2008 and 2009 or 2010. it may be that he spoke at radical or extreme groups or anti-israel groups and accepted financial compensation. we don't know.

it is at minimum relevant to know if that $200,000 that he deposited in his bank account came directly from saudi arabia, came directly from north korea. >> we should point out that there is absolutely no evidence supporting cruz's claims. florida senator bill nelson was not impressed with the texas senator cruz, and put the freshman senator in his place. >> i want to put on the record that this senator feels like that senator cruz has gone over the line. he basically has impugned the patriotism of the nominee. there is a certain degree of comity and civility that this committee has always been known for. to question, in essence, whether somebody is a fellow traveler with another country i think is taking it too far. >> even senator john mccain hit

back at cruz. >> senator hagel is an honorable man. he has served his country. and no one on this committee at any time should impugn his character or his integrity. >> ted cruz has been a senator for less than a little over a month, i guess. and he is already embarrassed himself using the platform of the senate armed services committee to slander a decorated war veteran. it is absolutely shameful. senator cruz is an example of why his home state of texas will probably be a blue state sooner rather than later. tonight in our survey, i asked will gun violence victims and families get the votes they deserve. wow, 54% of you say yes. 46% of you say no. coming up, california police officers are still trying to determine if chris dorner met his end in this burned out cabin. we'll have the latest. stay with us. she knows you like no one else.

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and in the big finish, the massive manhunt for suspected cop killer christopher dorner might be over tonight, but then again, it might not. san bernardino investigators have called off the search and reopened the local roads, but so far the medical examiner has not yet made a positive identification of the charred human remains found in this burned out cabin in big bear lake, california. "the l.a. time" reports agents found christopher dorner's driver's license and wallet among the ashes. remember, hundreds of police officers descended on big bear lake over the weekend to search

for dorner, who is a well-trained ex-navy reservist and ex-police officer of the l.a. police department. the s.w.a.t. team used sno-cats to conduct door-to-door searches, but dorner's trail had gone cold. tonight we're learning dorner might have been hiding in plain sight. a mother/daughter cleaning crew said they surprised dorner inside one of the cabins yesterday morning. police say dorner tied up the women and stole their car, then carjacked another resident by pointing an assault rifle at them. >> he was calm-looking. he didn't have any wild eyes or anything like that. i just did what he told me to do, you know. >> fish and wildlife officers were the closest to the scene so, they chased the suspect and exchanged shots with the pickup. they ended up at a rustic cabin across the road from the police command post. a cbs news crew followed the officers into the area and captured the shoot-out on tape. police said today that they use in order than 500 rounds in the firefight.

[ gunshots ] four hours later, officers fill the cabin with tear gas, then used a demolition vehicle to take down the walls. when they got to the last walls, officers heard a single gunshot and the cabin went up in flames. the san bernardino sheriffs say the officers did not start the fire. tonight we still don't know if dorner was inside or if he managed to elude police again. let's turn again to clint van zandt, msnbc analyst and former fbi profiler. clint, your take on what may or may not have gone down. do you think dorner died in this fire? >> yeah, i think he did. i think that the law enforcement officers chased the right guy. they cornered him in the house. they gave him every chance in the world to surrender. he answered with gunfire. you know, that gunfire we just heard, ed, that was more like vietnam or afghanistan than northern california.

but the firefight took place. the police probably used cs gas that burns to release smoke and tear gas inside of the house. when that was inside, it filled the house up. dorner still wouldn't come out. and we know there was one last shot. probably the shot that he put into himself, killed him. and they will identify the body based upon dental records and dna. this terrible domestic multiple murder is finally finished. and anybody out there on the internet who is praising this guy, they better go back to smoking cigarettes without labels again, because this was a bad determined killer. and that's the only way to understand this guy. >> with that, mr. van zandt, why didn't he hurt the cleaning crew or the pickup driver? what about that? >> i don't think they were combatants, ed. i think he considered law enforcement officers as men and women in uniform, the uniform

that he used to wear. he considered them combatants, but the two cleaning ladies, the guy he hijacked the car from -- >> already, clint van zandt, we've lost that live shot from the west coast tonight. we certainly appreciate you joining us on this story. and there you see one of the most bizarre police stories i think we've ever seen unfold right before our eyes. he was hiding out right across from the police command post, and came across a couple of women who were going to clean the cabin. didn't take their lives, nor did he take the life of the person who was driving a truck and got carjacked. but there is a string of dead people, and now dorner is not 100% confirmed dead, according to the sheriff's office, but of course since he is former naval reserve and former lapd, i'm sure they'll have the dental records.